Fairytale Love - Becca & Brian(48)

As she stood back up, now blissfully barefoot, she heard John Cusack's  voice in her head as Lloyd from Say Anything. "You start out depressed,  everything turns out to be a pleasant surprise."

For some reason, like her '80s quotes always did, that made her feel better.

Taking a deep breath, she bent down and picked up her oversized beach  bag, making sure that the straps were as high on her shoulders as they  could go. Then, just as she was reaching down to get the cooler, she  heard a voice that put a smile on her face.

"Well, now, young lady. Do you need some help with that?"

Looking up, she saw Grandpa J (who her cousins and every other male in  this town called The Colonel) walking down the wooden sidewalk towards  her. Grandpa J had basically adopted every young person in this town as  ‘kin,' and the town had definitely adopted him as theirs. He'd moved to  Harper's Crossing when Becca was little to live with his son and his  family after his wife Marie had passed away.

She loved him like he was family.

"Hi, Grandpa J." She gave him a hug as he got closer. Then she reached down and picked up the cooler. "It's okay. I've got it."

There was no way she was going to make Grandpa J lug a cooler up a hill for her and Brian's fireworks picnic.

Grandpa J lifted a questioning, bushy, white brow at her. "Where's that tall young man of yours?"

Becca's first instinct was to say that she and Brian were just friends  like she had forever. But they weren't anymore, and she never wanted to  say those words again. She guessed she would have to for the next year  if she and Colton or Brian and Brooklyn won, but not tonight. She didn't  have to say that tonight.

"He's still at the shop. He's going to meet me here when he finishes up."

Grandpa J nodded and, without asking permission, grabbed the cooler out of her hands. "Where are we headed?"

She knew better than to argue with ‘The Colonel.' Plus, she'd felt the guns on him. He could put young men to shame.

Becca motioned to the small hill that sat beside the river. "Up there."

As they began walking, Grandpa J asked in his patented Grandpa J tone,  "So, what is this I hear about you being a princess on TV?"

"Oh, that's just a show that I'm on. And Brian's on. It's a reality dating competition show."

"So, Brian is your prince?"

Ummm.

"No, he is dating a girl named Brooklyn and I'm dating a guy named  Colton." For some reason, explaining this to Grandpa J made her feel  nervous. Becca didn't know if it was just because she thought he  wouldn't understand or if it was because she knew he would.

"I see," he said as they came to the end of the wooden sidewalk and  started up the hill. "And what do you get if you win this show?"                       
       
           



       

"Money." That was the easy part to explain.

"So you just win and they give you money?" he said after a few moments when they reached the top and he set down the cooler.

"Well, you get some money, but if you do another show and stay together  with your person for a year, you get even more money." It sounded so bad  when she said it like that.

"Okay." Grandpa J sat down on the cooler as Becca laid out the green-checkered blanket she'd packed.

"It's not real," Becca explained. "It's like acting."

While Grandpa J sat with his hands resting on his knees for a few  moments, Becca was actually anxious to hear what he was going to say. In  that moment, she knew that she might have matured and grown as a person  this summer, but she would always care about and respect the opinions  of her family and the people she loved. That was just who she was.

"Well"-Grandpa J shook his head slightly and looked up at her-"as long  as you have a smile on your face, that's all that matters to me, young  lady."

Becca didn't know if it was all the stress of the past few weeks, the  stress of what was going to happen tomorrow and the next year, or just  the fact that she felt Grandpa J's unconditional love and it was  overwhelming, but whatever the reason, his saying that all that mattered  was the smile on her face caused tears to start rolling down her face.

"Come here, young lady," Grandpa J said as he scooted over on the cooler so she could sit down.

When she did, he put his arm around her and she laid her head on his  shoulder and just cried until she didn't have any tears left.

"Now what were all those waterworks about?" he asked, sounding gruff.  But there was so much love in his voice that Becca almost burst out  crying again.

She sat up, and he pulled out a clean, crisp handkerchief from his  pocket. He always carried them around, and she'd seen them come in handy  more than once. After she wiped her face and blew her nose, she took a  deep breath.

"I just …  I don't know how everything is going to turn out and I just …  I  just wish I knew how to fix something I don't know how to fix." Becca  knew she was rambling and not making any sense.

"Well now, best as I can tell, nobody knows how anything is going to  turn out. Things tend to have a way of working themselves out, even when  it doesn't look like there's a way. Sometimes you just have to have a  little faith." Grandpa J patted her hand.

Becca nodded. When she looked up, she saw Brian walking down the path  towards them with purposeful strides. Her heart skipped a beat. He was  wearing a white shirt that was just snug enough that it pulled taut  against his broad shoulders and strong chest, and his faded blue jeans  were a little too baggy, but somehow, on Brian, they looked just the  right amount of sexy.

"Now, that's someone you can have faith in. That boy has loved you since  before he knew what to do about it. And it's the sticking kind,"  Grandpa J smiled.

"‘The sticking kind'?" Becca asked.

"Yep." He nodded his head, "When me and my buddies would get shipped  out, all our sweethearts would come and see us off. All the girls cried  and declared their love for their sailor, but I could always spot the  ones that would stick. Stick through war. Stick through losing jobs.  Stick through kids. Stick through illness. Stick through everything. The  sticking kind."

Becca smiled. "Like the kind you had with Marie?"

Grandpa J winked as he stood. "How do ya think I knew how to spot it?"

"Colonel," Brian said warmly as he reached them.

Becca stood, hugged Grandpa J, and whispered as she felt tears pricking her eyes again, "Thank you."

His words had made her feel better. She still didn't know what was going  to happen, but she did know that he was right. The love she and Brian  had was the sticking kind.

* * *

Brian noticed that Becca had been crying as she hugged The Colonel. But  she was also smiling a real smile. All Brian wanted to do was keep that  smile on her face for the rest of his life.

"All right now," The Colonel said as he patted Becca's back. "I better get back to my walk."

"You're not gonna watch the fireworks?" Becca asked as she moved next to Brian. He immediately wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Nah. You seen one, you've seen ‘em all," The Colonel said as he started down the hill. "You kids enjoy ‘em."

Brian would have offered to walk with him, but he didn't think that would have gone over so well.

As they watched The Colonel go, Becca wrapped her arms around Brian's  waist and he threaded his fingers in her hair and pulled her head  against his chest. Leaning down, he inhaled the sweet smell of vanilla  and citrus and kissed her on the top of her head. She hugged him tighter  and buried her head against him.                       
       
           



       

Damn, he loved how she felt in his arms.

"You okay, baby?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, looking up at him, her blue eyes still glimmering with unshed tears.

Frustration flooded through him. He wanted to take all of her pain away  from her, but he didn't know how to do that when he was the one causing  it. All week, he'd been trying to figure out how to fix everything.

Other than winning the show, he had no idea how to save his parents'  house and their business and put his siblings through school. He could  get four jobs and still not scratch the surface of what he needed.

A loud popping sound exploded behind him, and he and Becca moved to the  blanket and sat down to watch the fireworks. He sat down first, and she  snuggled between his legs, leaning back against him as she rested her  hands on his thighs.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her even closer to him.  When he did, the soft skin of her neck was exposed, and he pressed his  lips to it. She breathed out and tilted her head to give him better  access as he felt her fingers digging into his legs. Opening his mouth,  he ran his tongue up her neck and nipped the sensitive skin right  beneath her ear, which he'd discovered she liked. A lot.